12/06/2010

Holiday Gift Guide, Part Three: Gifts of In-Home Experiences

What makes for a good in-home experience -- and how do you turn that into a gift? In this installment of my holiday gift guide for 2010, I'm going to give you some ideas for how to give a gift that will become an experience, which, if you're lucky, will become a tradition leading to memories that will always come back to you, the giver who launched something special.

Whose best memories don't involve food? Perhaps it's because my huge, extended family gathered a lot and ate traditional foods that a lot of my memories have a flavor. Eating my great-grandma's potato soup while playing cards, savoring my grandma's all-homemade (even the noodles!) spaghetti and meatballs on a Sunday after church, experiencing my half-Polish husband's native cuisine at a church in Green Point (pierogi I'll never forget!), and even my lemon wedding cake -- these taste experiences flood me with memories of connectedness, togetherness and happy times.

Beyond cooking- and eating-related gifts, there are home-related gifts like art and home decor that, if you know your recipient well, will become family treasures fast.

And lastly, during this economy, there are ways to focus on gifts for in-home experiences so that, instead of hearing "we can't afford to go out," the refrain will be "hooray! a night in!" That's the point of these ideas, shared below, in a bit different format where the experience, rather than the gift, is labelled.

Ahhh, breakfast in bed. Nothing says "love" to me like the gift of sleeping in and/or being encouraged to stay in bed. Unfortunately, this is usually only a twice-a-year gift for me: Mother's Day and my birthday. This year, inspire more breakfasts in bed with the gift of tools to make it more often. My favorite breakfast delight discovery this year is ebelskiver, little stuffed Danish pancake balls. With the right pan, mix, and even a cookbook, this can make for a lot of morning fun! But be forewarned: if you're a husband giving this to a wife, accompany it with the promise to use it to cook for her (rather than the expectation that she delight you!). If you're making breakfast in bed for the one you love, bring it in with the newspaper, TV remote, a new book, or a stack of drugstore magazines; then take the kids out of the house and let the recipient enjoy!

Lunch? Who has time for lunch? I need a work-out! I'm super-guilty of missing lunch all too often, so, actually, this gift is about the lunch hour. Especially on days when I can't hit the gym, lunchtime is when I take my bike for a spin, walk around the neighborhood, or even play Wii Fit Plus to get warmed up -- then I always, always, always use my free weights and do my core exercises. Now, this is tricky, because if you gift weights and exercise videos to your spouse, it won't be well-received -- unless, like 99.8% of American women, she's declared herself a New Year's dieter. Make sure you preface your gift with a notice: "In support of your New Year's goal, here are some tools to kick off your new regimen..." Or, better yet, discuss it first and get the okay. (The Guv has asked me for the go-ahead to buy himself an elliptical trainer for Christmas, so I know how it goes!) I use these free weights from WalMart (cheap doesn't matter -- they work!), one of my kids' jump ropes sometimes, and my stairs for tricep dips and push-ups. I stretch to a Trudie Styler Warrior Yoga video, or do mat pilates on my Gaiam mat. Want to be a real hero? Give the gift of a gift card or, if you're brave, actual workout clothing from Lululemon. The Guv likes my Lulu workout clothes so much that I have an "unlimited" budget there (and he never ever uses words like "unlimited!").

What's for dinner? This year, I've fallen in love with my crockpot all over again. With soccer four days a week plus at least once on the weekend, I'm often walking in my front door at 7 pm with two famished kids, and dinner has to be instant. This cookbook -- Make It Fast, Cook It Slow -- revolutionized my use of the crockpot. I have an inexpensive model, but even All-Clad makes these amazing devices if you want to go high-end. Want to funk it up? A foodie friend just ordered this book of Indian slow cooking. A cookbook and a crockpot is a perfect gift for just about any friend, from the single working woman who likes to cook and eat well to the soccer mom or single dad.

And how about some dessert? I seriously don't know if I could live without my ice cream maker. Pair this gift with ice cream bowls, the perfect scoop, and an ice cream cookbook, and you have a party waiting to happen! Want to go retro? There are ice cream balls and old-fashioned crank machines also. This is a great gift from grandparents to young families. The bonus of it -- and why I can't live without mine -- is that I can control the ingredients, fat, and sugar content. My kids love sorbet from this, whereas they'd never order it in an ice cream shop; making it themselves is a big draw.

Gifts for those who love to cook: I confess, I still use one non-stick pan. It's my "egg" pan, and I can't seem to give it up. But recently, I've made the commitment to switching over to cast iron, starting with this Made-in-the-USA Lodge wok as well as a couple of cast-iron skillets. Perhaps Santa will bring me this cookbook, too, so that I can really get into the spirit! If you know someone who loves to cook but hasn't gone the cast-iron route yet, gifts of these pans and a cookbook might inspire them to go down that path. Meanwhile, while I'm figuring out what to do with the new pans, I'm going to focus on recreating a little gem salad I enjoy at new-favorite restaurant Marlowe, which requires shaving fennel, carrots, and several types of radish on a mandoline. This is one of those tools that home cooks often lack but covet. I have a million more home kitchen tool/gadget ideas, but let me just encourage you to think along these lines: what, and where, does the gift recipient love to eat? If s/he has a favorite restaurant, does it have a cookbook you can gift? Any unique ingredients? How about gourmet salt or spices? Anyone can give wine, but you could give the experience of a new ingredient -- how cool is that?!

Tableware that's good for the economy: Worried about the American economy? How about buying American goods? Like the Lodge cast-iron cookware mentioned above, Fiesta dinnerware is made in America, right down the street from where I grew up in northern West Virginia. When you buy Fiesta, you're helping to employ folks in an area that's in need of some serious stimulus; and you're also picking up some classic American dishes that evoke timeless elegance on your table. No matter what your decor, there's a Fiesta color to match; or, do like many WV natives do and mix-and-match these pieces that never go out of style.

Home decor: I have friends who love art, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars per painting; and I have friends for whom art is whatever their kids draw and stick to the wall with scotch tape. For us, it's somewhere in the middle; we're more likely to find a print or another special memento during travels that we can then have framed and hang on the wall, but I also love displaying my kids' drawings. These kids' art frames are on my wish list this year as a nice-looking, ready-made place in which to display their favorite pieces -- and for me, it's really about their favorite pieces, not what I think looks best. It's quite an experience for them to have their own "gallery!" Meanwhile, we're also looking for a canvas to hang over our bed, and I have my eye on this piece called "Reflect" from Modern Digital Canvas. We have their eye-catching Tokyo piece in our mountain cottage, and it's our most complimented piece of art. (We have some of these Andy Warhol prints there, too.) Meanwhile, our favorite art to gift to others are Storypeople prints by Brian Andreas. We've given a fewof theseprints as engagement and new home gifts, and we know that they're loved because people have decorated rooms to highlight them! As with any art, though, you have to know the recipient well; if your friend is into French Country, they may not want to display a Storypeople print. Most of our friends are into modern decor, into which these fit perfectly.

Monthly deliveries: For the gift recipient who has everything, monthly deliveries of treats might be the way to go. I've given my parents Peet's "coffee tours" in the past, and they frequently gift my grandparents with Harry and David fruit of the month. If you're more into the one-hit wonder gifts, try sending a coffee lover a sampling they might not have tried from a first-rate roaster, like Batdorf and Bronson (Dancing Goats), Blue Bottle, or my #1 favorite, Barefoot Roasters. For older folks, I like to send gift baskets from Wolferman's full of English muffins, breakfast breads, and spreads. 1800baskets.com has some terrific gift baskets; I tasted a lot of their related Popcorn Factory treats at BlogHer this summer and would do just about anything for another popcorn ball right now!

Next up: Part Four, Gifts of Family Experiences Away from Home (Memberships, Concerts, Tours, Thrills, and More)

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